Power-Hungry Mobutu Gains Control, Wreaks Havoc

Kasavubu abruptly dismissed Tshombe in 1965 but
was then himself ousted by Gen. Joseph-Desiré Mobutu, army chief of
staff. The new president nationalized the Union Minière, the
Belgian copper mining enterprise that had been a dominant force in the
Congo since colonial days. Mobutu eliminated opposition to win the
election in 1970. In 1975, he nationalized much of the economy, barred
religious instruction in schools, and decreed the adoption of African
names. He changed the country's name to Zaire and his own to Mobuto Sese
Seko, which means “the all-powerful warrior who, because of his
endurance and inflexible will to win, will go from conquest to conquest
leaving fire in his wake.” In 1977, invaders from Angola calling
themselves the Congolese National Liberation Front pushed into Shaba
(Katanga) and threatened the important mining center of Kolwezi. France
and Belgium provided military aid to defeat the rebels.